14
by amadeus
Summary: Voldemort tries to get back at Harry for the fourteen years of torture Harry caused him, torturing and killing his friends one by one. Can Harry stop him? Features some dark Harry.
1. The Beginning

14

14

By Amadeus

Author's Note: I thought this one up at midnight on a Sunday. Pathetic? Yes. Good? I believe it will be. This is going to be a post Goblet of Fire fic and my goal is to bring out a bit of emotion from you people. You'll find out what kind. This is not a luvvy-duvvy fic though there may be a bit of Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione to advance the plot a bit. Sorry. You'll get over it. Anyway, I hope you really like this story. If you do please tell me and I might even bend the story your way a little bit. If you don't, please constructively tell me why not. Have fun reading, and please review!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his surrounding characters belong to JK Rowling.

Chapter 1: The Beginning (part 1)

Harry Potter lay awake finishing the last of his Hogwarts summer homework, a particularly difficult essay assigned by his least favorite professor, the potions master Severus Snape: Discuss the importance of specific ingredients and methods for the concoction of potions and give examples. It was quite obvious to Harry that fifth year potions would involve he and his classmates forming their own new potions, which would definitely be interesting. Combine Crabbe and Goyle's idiocy and Neville's habitual bumble and blunder and Harry would bet on several loud and messy explosions in the coming year. And several large deductions from Gryffindor's House Points.

As he finished writing the essay, Harry looked up at his clock to see that the time was 11:50 PM, just ten minutes until his birthday arrived. The summer thus far had been relatively boring for Harry. Vernon and Petunia Dursley mostly just ignored him, while Dudley attempted to avoid him entirely. Dudley had slimmed some thanks to his diet. All of his yelling and kicking and screaming over the loss of his allowance (which he had been using to smuggle treats into his room) had resulted in the loss of calories, though he made no progress on his demands. He was now the size of a quite chubby boy, rather than a small whale. He still feared and hated Harry, but the young wizard took no notice.

Five minutes until his birthday, Harry began to imagine what he might possibly receive as birthday gifts. From Hermione he expected the typical: a book. This did not bother Harry though as he was sure she would find one that peaked his interest. From Hagrid he expected some rather shaky attempts at cooking. Harry reminded himself to avoid eating any food Hagrid might send until he was sure someone other than Hagrid had made it. From Ron he was counting on something to do with quidditch and probably the Chudley Cannons. From Sirius he expected something small and unnoticeable. His godfather was still on the run from the British Ministry of Magic for a crime he did not commit, and would not want to draw attention to himself.

Harry decided that he would be extremely happy with four presents, especially considering his average birthday beforehand. His most useful gift from the Dursleys had been a pair of Vernon Dursleys old socks, which he had used as sound cushions for his sneakoscope before making them a hasty make-shift Christmas gift for the grateful house elf Dobby. Harry expected that the Dursleys would once again ignore his birthday entirely, which he did not mind in the least.

Harry woke from his present daydream (A/N Sorry for the pun) to a soft tapping on the window. He absent-mindedly opened the window and went back to his bed believing that it was only Hedwig returned from her several day trip, wherever she had gone. As he sat down on his bed and looked up for Hedwig he received quite a bit more than he bargained for.

Hedwig, indeed, was flying through the window, but she was accompanied by about ten other owls as well. Among them Harry recognized Pigwidgeon, Hermes, and a very worn-out-looking Errol. All the hooting and rustling was making quite a raucous, and Harry was dearly hoping that Uncle Vernon and Dudley's snoring would drown out the noise in their respective rooms.

Apparently the young wizard had received quite a few more gifts than he had counted on. Harry quickly went to work untying the parcels from all the owls and opened the first present that smelled vaguely of food and blessed Mrs. Weasley as he dispensed to the hungry flock of owls what appeared to be and smelled like a very good chicken pot pie. Once all the owls were appeased and had begun to leave, he started opening his packages. By the time he had opened his first present all but Hedwig and the three Weasley owls had left. (Pig and Hermes had stayed to escort the tired, recovering Errol home.)

Harry had been mostly right about his friends' gifts. Hermione had bought him a book entitled _The History of the Quidditch World Cup _which included statistics and details from all of the championship games in history. Hagrid had sent him a cake (not his cooking) and some very familiar looking treacle fudge which Harry wouldn't touch. Sirius had sent him a new (waterproof) muggle watch, which Harry found both humorous and useful, as his had been ruined by water the previous year in his underwater lake excursions.(A/N Is that the correct word?)

In addition he had received a book on animagi from Lupin which contained a note saying that his father would have wanted it and that he, Remus, would be coming back as the Defense Against Dark Arts Teacher in the coming school year as Dumbledore could find no one else to take the jinxed job and would help teach Harry the art of animagi then.

From Ginny he received what seemed to be a small green carving of a fresh pickled toad and a hand-held blackboard. Her note said that it was her brothers Fred and George's idea and that she went along with it only so she could apologize for the incident. Harry found this present very entertaining and decided to keep both joke items.

The twins had sent him a small package of their new inventions for their growing joke shop saying that it was prospering with the anonymous contribution. He dared not to open the bag or try the jokes, however, until he was far from Privet Drive. The rest of the Weasleys had combined to send him combination candy package.

In the onrush of owls he had also received his notification and list of books from the assistant headmaster of Hogwarts and the head of Harry's house, Professor Minerva McGonall.

But his favorite present by far came from a combination of Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, and Ron Weasley, Harry's best friend. Professor Dumbledore had sent a note saying that Harry could leave Privet Drive and join the Weasley family at the Burrow upon invitation. Ron gave him a small box. Harry had nearly spilled the contents of the box in joy and surprise when he had opened it. The small box contained a note of invitation from Ron, and a packet of floo powder.

The invitation was immediate. After the previous visit Mr. Weasley had decided it best if the Weasleys did not return to 4 Privet Drive. The instructions were for Harry to write his aunt and uncle a note and to transport to the Burrow as soon as possible. The less contact with the Dursleys, the better.

Harry quietly gathered his belongings into his trunk and set out dragging his trunk out of his room and down the stairs, carefully listening to make sure the Dursleys continued their rhythmic snoring. When he reached the room with the fireplace he realized in dismay that the Dursleys had recovered it with a nailed-down wooden board. Testing the board, Harry happily discovered that it was not too firmly set and could, with a bit of work, be pried loose without magic. (which was of course forbidden) The wooden plank would also come in useful as firewood to keep the fire going long enough for him to use the floo powder, as all he had were matches and a few old newspapers.

"Umph." Harry, putting all his weight into pulling the board from the fireplace, had managed to do so, but had made quite a it of noise in the process. Upstairs he heard Vernon Dursley stir as he tried hurriedly to light a match. Try after try failed him until he finally got a spark as two feet upstairs hit the floor. Harry quickly lit several pieces of newspaper and fed them into the fireplace. Without thinking he picked up the board and snapped it in two so that it would fit into the fireplace. The loud crack of he wood had brought an immediate response from the Dursleys as Vernon's voice descended from his room.

"Who's there?" came Uncle Vernon's voice. Harry, after throwing the split board into the fire, which was now good enough for floo transport, fumbled with the packet of floo powder as Vernons loud heavy footsteps could be heard descending the stairs. By this time the only paper left in the room was the note he had written the Dursleys. He finally managed to throw some floo powder into the fire and quickly started to drag his trunk towards the fire. As he was just entering the fire Vernon Dursley entered the room, surveyed the scene before him and gave a shout of rage before dashing at his retreating nephew-in-law.

But Harry was already in the fire and shouted "THE BURROW" and the room went spinning out of view just as Uncle Vernon was almost in reach of him. Holding his trunk close and his eyes closed Harry felt the familiar dizziness as different fireplaces swirled before him. Finally he reached the Burrow and lunged one leg forward to heep himself from falling on his face. The thrill ride was over. He looked up to see the familiar faces of the Weasleys watching him.

Author's Note: Hope you like it so far. I haven't decided yet whether to just continue on this chapter and upload it again or to make a beginning part 2. Sorry not much happened in this chapter, but don't worry, there's a lot of action coming up soon. I really would appreciate it if you would review.


	2. The Quidditch Cake

14

14

By Amadeus

Author's Note: Wow this is great! I've checked around and not many people get this many reviews so fast. I'm going to have to install a thanks section at the end to reward all of you. I'm glad you like it so far, and I promise to try to get to the action as soon as possible. Please continue to R/R!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his surrounding characters are the property of JK Rowling

Chapter 2: Quidditch Cake

"Uncle Vernon…nearly…caught me…" managed Harry between gasps. He recovered quickly however under the concerned eyes of Mrs. Weasley and the others.

"It's all right dear, you're safe now," came the comforting voice of Mrs. Weasley. "Why don't you go upstairs and get a good night's rest. You can tell us all about it in the morning."

Harry suddenly realized how tired he was and yawned as he began to head up the steps to Ron's room. Only Ron followed as he trudged up the stairs while the rest of them stayed below whispering quickly in excited voices with words Harry couldn't hear. When he reached the room he plopped down on the bed and fell immediately into a deep dreamless sleep.

* * * * * * *

When Harry woke that morning Ron had already left the room. Harry groggily got up and dressed and began to head down the stairs stretching his arms and yawning widely as he descended. He entered the kitchen expecting to find Ron and the Weasleys sitting at the table eating breakfast when…

"SURPRISE!!" Harry jumped and woke from his stupor very quickly, his eyes wide. It took his face several seconds to go from a look of complete shock to one of absolute joy. 

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Haaaarryyyy, Happy Birthday to you!" The whole group laughed as Fred and George Weasley added a very drawn out "And Many Moooore". Harry was ecstatic. Everyone was there. All of the Weasleys had shown up, even Bill and Charlie from their jobs. Remus Lupin and Hagrid were there too. Neville and even Hermione had come.

"We saved the best present for last Harry," stated Ron. He laughed. "We got you a dog!"

A very familiar large black dog walked out from its hiding place behind the rest of the Weasleys.

"Sirius!"

The dog transformed into the smiling figure of Harry's godfather. Harry took a quick look around the room to make sure there were no surprised faces. There were nothing but smiles. Even Neville seemed to know Sirius. It was the happiest day of Harry's life. His friends, his family surrounding him as it should be. Nothing could ruin such a wonderful day. Or so he thought.

Brunch was held outside in order to accommodate the large number of guests. Harry saw that Mrs. Weasley had truly outdone herself as he looked at the feast before him. Pancakes, French toast, Belgian waffles, sausage and bacon among other delicious looking treats were piled high on the table in front of him.

But nothing could have prepared him for the truly gargantuous cake at the end of the table which was shaped like a miniature quidditch pitch. There were three goal posts to each side, and even the balls were present. He could plainly see the tiny quaffle and bludgers and for an instant Harry was sure he had seen a miniature golden snitch zoom by. It was amazing.

"Isn't it great?" said Ron following Harry's gaze. "Everyone chipped in to help make it. Fred and George mostly. They're bound to make a fortune with an invention like this. And here's the best part." Ron pointed. Harry suddenly noticed 15 figurines he had not seen before. There appeared to be two teams, or so the colors indicated, and one referee. "And we have the perfect number!" exclaimed Ron. Harry nodded as he counted 15 people, including himself, around the table. Everyone seemed to eat amazingly fast, obviously looking forward to "dessert".

When everyone had finished eating, they gathered around the cake while Fred and George explained the ingeniousness of their design.

"Fred and I have long despised the rule that one should not play with one's food so we made an exception," explained George, "As you can see there are fourteen players and a referee. We will use our wands to guide the players throughout the pitch, and the players will follow you're guide. Other than that the regular quidditch rules apply. As the referee can not play, he decides the terms and teams.

Neville looked a bit sulky lowering his gaze toward the ground. "I'm not very good at quidditch. I guess I'll be the referee"

Percy, the walking, talking rule book, however, had different plans. "I think I would prefer to be referee. It seems a bit more professional."

Fred and George sniggered. "Leave it to Percy to make a quidditch cake a professional occupation." Harry and the others (except Percy) chortled at this and tried to hide their laughter.

Harry turned to address Percy and Neville. "Nonsense to both of you. As it's MY cake I will be the ref. The teams… the Weasley children versus the rest. The terms… the winning team eats first. Ladies and Gentleman pick your captains and ready your teams."

The two teams excitedly huddled together. The young Weasleys' pick for captain was quite obvious: Charlie. Charlie would play seeker, Ron keeper, Fred and George beaters, and Ginny, Percy, and Bill would play as Chasers. They would play with red figureens.

On the other side, Hermione was made captain for her strategy, logic and ingenuity. Hermione's team would play with the green figureens. Their strategy was obviously to try and take the lead by more than 150 points before the snitch was captured, as poor Neville was assigned the Seeker position. Hermione would be keeper, Hagrid and Sirius beaters, and Remus Lupin would join Mr. And Mrs. Weasley as chasers.

Their strategy failed. Half an hour in to the very intense, though much enjoyed, game, the score was locked at 130. Harry had added announcer to his list of jobs for the game. The teams were evenly matched except for the Seeker position. Fortunately for the green team, Charlie had yet to spot the golden snitch. Charlie had however fooled Neville with a Wronski Feint and Neville's figureen had not been able to pull up in time to avoid smashing into the pitch. But the miniature player did not smash into the ground. Rather he went right through the level of frosting and came up out of the cake covered in frosting about a foot from his entry point,having formed a small tunnel. Naturally, everyone then had to try this for a bit of fun and all 14 players and the referee were fully coated in frosting, the quidditch pitch looking much worse for the wear. Indeed it more closely resembled the maze he had entered last year than the Hogwarts quidditch pitch.

The young Weasleys would have been trouncing their green clad foes were it not for Percy, who seemed incapable of anything involving quidditch. Hagrid had been a bit of a nuisance for the green team in the beginning, not wanting to hit a bludger at anyone. But his kindness was soon replaced by determination as the Weasley twins began their usual mayhem.

The score was tied at 140 when the two seekers spotted the snitch. Neville was closer, but Charlie was faster and had caught up to him as they approached the snitch. It was a neck and neck race as both figureens stretched out their hands for the small golden ball when suddenly a black blur shot by them both and grasped the snitch.

"I WIN!" shouted Harry as the miniature referee did a victory lap around the pitch. He then went into fits of hysterical laughter as he looked at the faces of his friends.

"OH You!" Hermione had started coming after him, but Harry was laughing too hard to try to get away. She kicked him lightly in the shins and then she and the rest of them joined Harry in laughter. The laughter was short lived.

A loud screech brought their hands to their ears and their eyes to the sky to see what could have made such a horrible sound. They looked up to see a black hawk circling just above them. In its talons it held what appeared to be a rolled piece of parchment. He dropped the parcel on Harry, who caught it, but did not take his eyes from the hawk. But the hawk had done what it came to do and on a leaving note snatched the still circling figureen of the referee out of the air and snapped it in two with its powerful claws, dropping the remaining fragments to the ground as it flew off.

When it had disappeared into the distance, the groups attention turned to the parchment Harry held in his hands. Harry opened it slowly, a dull pain mounting in his forehead. As he finished opening it he gasped. At the head of what appeared to be a letter was a horrible green snake protruding from an ugly naked skull. The Dark Mark, calling sign of the Dark Lord Voldemort.

The rest of the group looked questioningly at him as he slowly read through the letter. When he was done, he threw the letter onto the table and fell back into an empty chair, his knees suddenly weakened. The others gathered around the letter to read it. The reactions were mostly similar. Sirius and Hagrid in anger, Mrs. Weasley in tears, Neville fainted, and the rest looking quite subdued.

Beneath the Dark Mark the parchment read:

Potter:

Fourteen years I suffered barely alive in the forests of some far off country when I should have been ruling the world. You will suffer worse. Say goodbye to your loved ones Potter. They won't be around much longer. Fourteen Years, Fourteen deaths to those close to you. Try to protect them if you dare. You will fail. They are mine. You are mine. There is nothing you can do. You're time is up, and so is theirs. Remember fourteen years, fourteen deaths. The first is coming.

Your Life Your Blood Your Lord,

Lord Voldemort

Author's Note: Please remember to review!!

Thanks: Skade-You were my first reviewer! Thank you! You win a prize! You're wish will at least partly come true! Crystal Music-thanks for your offer, but I'd rather not use a beta reader. I'm a bit too inconsistent with my chapter timing for that and I didn't know people cared that much about correct grammar. I'm actually a pretty good editor myself, and if I get too many complaints about grammar I'll go back and check (which I'm not really doing now) Kalingawolf- hope this chapter is "kool" enough for you. SEEKER_2000-thanks, lucky me, the title is also almost always first alphabetically. Sara- I hope you liked this chapter. I promise to get more action in soon! Oceana-Thanks I'm getting them out as fast as I can! Tina Bedina-hope you liked it! More on the way! A GIRL WHO KNOWS-happy to oblige! XELA*Lupe-me too. Dark Warrior- I appreciate it but I doubt I'm as good as some of the ones I've read. Samantha- here it is! Cg-microwaves are good, but television and computers are better. Candy-yes I believe this is going turn out as my version of the fifth book, but I'm not trying to make a guess at JK Rowling, and I'm not changing the title. Meagan-your wish is my command.


	3. Fourteen

14

14

By Amadeus

Author's Note: You'll have to excuse me. I happen to be very fond of cliffhangers and tend to put in as much suspense as possible. Thank you to all those reviewers who take the time to read and tell me what they think. I really do appreciate it. All you readers are in luck. This is where the action starts, right here in this chapter. I hope you like it. Please remember to R/R!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his surrounding characters belong to JK Rowling

Chapter 3: 14

The last month before the start of Hogwarts passed quickly for Harry and his friends. After two weeks with no problems had passed several of them started to believe that "You-Know-Who" had just been trying to scare Harry, and Percy, under the influence of Cornelius Fudge, was beginning to question Voldemort's return, and suggested that it could have been a stupid prank.

This possibility was only heightened by the fact that, other than Harry and the useless body of the young Bartemius Crouch, there was no evidence of the Dark Lord's return. There were no ostentatious killings, no Dark Marks, (besides Harry's) and over all no discernable connections whatsoever. Not one former Death Eater had gone out of line.

The group was kept on their toes only by the words of Albus Dumbledore, whom they had notified immediately: "Be careful. Keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Harry was His last target before he was first defeated, and will most likely be his first target, directly or indirectly, now that he is revived. I am doing what I can to prevent Voldemort's return to power but the Ministry is making it difficult as is the lack of evidence. Be careful. I look forward to seeing ALL of you at Hogwarts this year."

After the spoiled party Neville had gone to his grandmother's, Hagrid's "can't tell yer that" most likely meant he was returning to discussions with the giants, while Lupin and Sirius went left for their own confidential ordeal. Bill and Charlie, too, returned to their respective jobs, but Hermione stayed at the Burrow.

"I want to stay to make sure you two don't get into trouble," she had said, which Harry suspected was true, but he also thought she was hiding a bit of her own fear under her protective shell. The Weasley twins seemed the least worried and they lightened the load for everyone else with their practical jokes and inventions.

"We're going to try to make a deal with the owner of Honeydukes and go into a joint business since we won't have enough time to have our own shop this year because of school and NEWTS." Everyone knew not to accept anything that had been in Fred and George's possession, but occasionally someone would bravely accept one just to see what it did. Added to the canary creams, quidditch cake, and tongue-tied toffee were such items as laughing lollipops (which brought several minutes of histerical laughter from anyone who tried them), floating fizzy drinks (which made the owner float lightly several feet off the ground), and clairvoyant candies which made the owner look a bit like a ghost.

Trying the last two at the same time, Harry had given the rest of the Weasleys the scare of their life (looking of course like a floating ghost) while Fred and George had looked on laughing hysterically (not because they had eaten the lollipops). Mrs. Weasley had yelled at Fred and George for a straight two hours after the effects wore off, but by the end could no longer hold it in and had laughed with the rest of the family. Fred and George had insisted that Harry repeat the performance upon their arrival at Hogwarts, but that idea was nixed by Mrs. Weasley.

Despite all the doubt about Voldemort's intentions Mrs. Weasley insisted that everyone stay together as a precaution on their trip to Diagon Alley. But there once again were no problems as Harry, Hermione, and the younger Weasleys bought their Hogwarts things without incident. By the time the end of the month came around, nearly everyone had dismissed the thought of Voldemort's revenge, and they boarded the Hogwarts Express sad that the summer was over, but glad that they were headed back to school.

While on the train Harry, Ron, and Hermione met up with their old friends, and enemies. Seamus and Dean had entered their cabin for a bit to talk about the quidditch matches to be held that year. Even Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown hadjoined them for a short while to discuss what they had done over the summer. The most unwelcome Draco Malfoy as well as his thugs Crabbe and Goyle had entered their compartment, too.

"So Potter, still alive? Not for long." Crabbe and Goyle chortled stupidly. "You and you're pathetic little friends here…" Malfoy continued to insult them, but Harry was no longer listening. He had noticed a small snake slithering out of Crabbe's pocket.

"Hello," he said in Parsletongue quietly so that only the snake would hear. The snake looked up surprised.

"You are a Parselmouth?" the snake asked him. Harry nodded. "My name is Salazar, named after Slytherin. It was not my choice. That ssstupid git," Salazar nodded his head toward Crabbe, "named me. Hide me, pleasssse, I can not ssstand him." Harry nodded toward Hermione's purse, which was at his feet. "Thanksss." Said the snake and entered the purse. Harry turned his attention back to Malfoy, who was now in a heated argument with Ron, who was becoming very red in the face with anger. No one had noticed the snake's appearance but he. Malfoy's attention shifted once again back to Harry."

"So, the Weasel and the Mudblood have a thing for each other." Harry had noticed this too. Ron and Hermione had spent nearly all of their time at the Burrow together, some of it without Harry, who had had a sudden change of heart toward the youngest Weasley who had grown up in several ways over the summer. "What about you Potter? Any pathetic…"

But Harry had grown bored of Malfoy, and slowly took out his wand at pointed it at the blond boy in front of him. "Tacite." He whispered and Malfoy stopped speaking. His mouth continued to move for a bit before he realized he was making no sound. He looked up at Harry with surprise and anger and begun an advance on his adversary, but Harry was already performing a second spell.

"Exhortus." He muttered and something invisible caught Malfoy by the arm and started dragging him away. Malfoy looked back to see who had grabbed him but saw no one. He looked back at Harry with surprise as he was dragged out of the compartment. His idiot thugs, lost and confused without their leader, left soon after. Ron, whose face had resumed its normal color, also looked at Harry in surprise. And then he laughed, joined by Fred, George, and Ginny, who had just entered the compartment.

"Who's responsible for The Silence of The Ferret?" asked Fred with a chuckle. Harry turned pink partly because Ron was pointing at him and the other boys were clapping him on the back, and partly because Ginny had just sat down next to him. But it ended quickly as suddenly gave out a shrill scream and ran to the opposite side of the compartment as Salazar slithered out of her purse, which she had brought over to her while Harry was occupied.

Salazar slithered quickly over to Harry and into his pocket, frightened by Hermione's screams. "Calm down Herm, its only Crabbe's pet snake Salazar," said Harry in a soothing voice.

Hermione calmed down a bit but did not return to her seat. "Then why isn't it with Crabbe?"

"Because it hates Crabbe and thinks he and his friends are idiots." Responded Harry.

"Smart snake." Commented George. Hermione, satisfied with this, came back to her seat.

Harry, seeing that the rest of the compartment was okay with the presence of Salazar, turned his attention back to the snake coaxing it out of his pocket. "It's okay now, she was just frightened. She didn't expect to see you. She won't hurt you. She's my friend."

"You're friend is very loud." The small snake responded.

"What did it say?" asked Hermione.

"Salazar said that you scream very loudly." Responded Harry. Everyone laughed. Salazar was no longer frightened, and curled around Harry's wrist as he went around introducing everyone, switching between parseltongue and English. In the end everyone decided that the snake was great and that it was welcome to stay, so it did.

By the time they reached Hogwarts, everyone was famished (despite the candy they eaten from the witch's cart) and desperately wanted the feast to start. Harry noticed as he left the train and boarded the horseless carriages that Hagrid was back, and, from the look of him, it seemed as though Dumbledore's envoy to the giants had been successful.

The sorting went by as slowly as ever as Harry and his friends looked at their empty plates hungrily. Harry clapped with the rest as Zeichner, Neil became a Gryffindor and then looked expectantly from Dumbledore to his plate back to Dumbledore. The headmaster of Hogwarts stood up and started his short speech. Most of what he said was the usual spill about the forbidden forrest etcetera, but at the end of his speech he bowed his head.

"I ask for a moment of silent remembrance before we eat in honor of the student who was taken from our midst last year. Cedric Diggory." Silence enveloped the Great Hall. Most of the first years looked around questioningly, obviously oblivious to what happened last year but remained respectfully silent all the same. When Dumbledore sat down, the rest followed, the plates filled, and the talking resumed. The twins were talking loudly about their plans for the magic joke shop, Ron was admiring Hermione's prefect badge (she had been the only one to seem surprised that she was a prefect), and Harry and Ginny were stealing small glances at each other.

All of a sudden Hermione spoke up. "Where's Neville?" she asked. She was right. Neville was nowhere to be seen. "He wasn't on the train. I thought he'd already be here."

"Maybe he's in the hospital wing or something like that," suggested Ron. "After all, Harry's missed two feasts before." The rest of them nodded and the previous conversations resumed.

By the end of the feast everyone was extremely full and extremely tired. They trudged up to the Gryffindor common room, gave the password ("Golden Snitch") and went quickly to sleep. No one noticed that neither Neville nor his possessions were there.

* * * * * * *

The next morning everyone entered the Great Hall for breakfast lazily after a good night's rest. Class schedules were distributed (the fifth year Gryffindors groaned as they saw double potions with the Slytherins as well as Care of Magical Creatures) and were just starting a conversation on the subject when a flock of owls flew into the Great Hall with the daily morning delivery.

Harry returned to his breakfast as he saw there was nothing for him, but just as most of the owls had left, a loud an horribly familiar screech filled the Great Hall. Harry looked above the heads of the rest of the Hogwarts students (covering their ears) to see the black hawk which had ruined his birthday. It flew over him, dropping a rolled piece of parchment into his hands and flying out of the hall again leaving with another loud and obnoxious shriek.

All eyes in the Great Hall turned to Harry who slowly and shakily unrolled the parchment. The Hall was silent. Harry dropped it in surprise as a loud and familiarly cold voice shouted "Crucio!" A scream of agony filled the Great Hall. The screaming voice too was familiar. Harry's blood chilled as he recognized the voice. It was Neville's. The screaming continued from the letter for what seemed an eternity. It was silenced only by the original voice. "Avada Kedavra!" came the cruel voice of Voldemort. The screaming stopped abruptly. The Great Hall was completely silent. After a minute or two of silence Harry picked up the piece of parchment. It had only two things on it. The first, was Voldemort's horrible calling card, the Dark Mark. Below it, in large print, was the number 14.

Author's Note: I'm horrible aren't I? Please remember to review.


	4. Thirteen

14

14

By Amadeus

Author's Note: Wow! Thank you all so much for your reviews. It's really nice to know that people actually do read and enjoy this stuff. Please continue to R/R. A lot of you didn't like the loss of poor, helpless Neville. I'm sorry. He had to go. It's part of my story. As to whether he's REALLY dead or not, that's for me to decide and for you to read. Until then, I'm afraid you're just going to have to continue hating me. As a warning, this chapter will not help. With that, I present to you…Chapter 4…

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his surrounding characters belong to JK Rowling

Chapter 4: Thirteen

The Great Hall was completely silent. Every pair of eyes in the hall were on Harry and the parchment from which Neville's voice had screamed. Presently the sound of a single set of footsteps broke the silence. The footsteps grew in sound as the owner approached Harry. They stopped just behind Harry, who slowly turned around and looked up to see the unreadable face of Albus Dumbledore.

"Harry, please follow me to my office." Said the headmaster solemnly. As Harry and Dumbledore were leaving the Great Hall, the headmaster turned toward Professor McGonall, who was slowly recovering from her state of shock. "Minerva, please send everyone back to their house common rooms immediately. Tell them that we will update them shortly. After that is done please bring Mr. Ron Weasley and Ms. Hermione Granger up to my office." She nodded and Harry and Dumbledore left the hall.

As the door closed behind him Harry heard a sudden and furious wave of chatter and rumors envelope the Great Hall. The noise faded quickly, however, as Harry nearly had to run to keep up with Dumbledore's quick strides. When they reached the Gargoyle that led to Dumbledore's office, the headmaster gave the password ("Quidditch cake"), but Harry was too miserable to be surprised. They continued up the steps and entered his office in silence.

Dumbledore indicated that Harry should sit down, which he did, and then went to retrieve the pensieve Harry had found the previous year from its cupboard. He once again started pacing back and forth behind his desk and every so often pulling a gleaming strand of thought from his temple. This continued for a couple minutes, and then he turned to face Harry.

"May I see that bit of parchment please, Harry?" Harry gave him the letter. Dumbledore examined it for a bit and then resumed pacing.

"Professor?" Harry inquired.

"Yes, Harry?"

"Do you think that Neville is, ummm…"

"Dead?" finished the headmaster bluntly. Harry nodded. "I don't know for sure Harry, but all evidence certainly seems to point in that direction." Harry bowed his head. "Harry, it essential that I show you something. Please come over here." Harry stood and walked the short distance toward Dumbledore and the pensieve. "Hold my hand." Harry did. Dumbledore touched the pensieve and Harry felt the world around him swirling out of view.

When the scene around him became clear again, he was in the hospital wing, with two Dumbledores. The one holding his hand let go and turned to look at the second, who had not noticed their arrival. The second figure of Dumbledore was crouched over someone in one of the hospital beds. Moving closer and looking closely, Harry identified the person as Severus Snape.

Snape was in very bad shape. It seemed a miracle that a body in that condition could still be alive. The memory of Madam Pompfrey entered the scene and started doting on the seriously injured Snape. The second Dumbledore said something soothing to his potions master, assuring him of his location and of his safety. It was quite obvious that otherwise Severus would be able to know neither as his eyes were swollen shut, his ears bleeding, and several of his limbs broken.

Harry cringed. He didn't want to see this, he didn't want to see anyone, even his most hated teacher, in that sort of condition, but he was unable to turn away, and continued watching the scene.

"Dumbledore," exhaled Snape weakly.

"Shhh, Severus, save you're strength." He looked up at Madam Pompfrey, obviously unsure of whether his trusted potions master would live.

She nodded. "He'll be fine. None of his injuries are too serious. It's like someone was torturing him, making sure not to do any critical damage."

"Voldemort," the weakened professor Snape said with effort. "He knew…knew I wasn't loyal…Cruciatus…stopped at breaking point…said I wasn't…wasn't to be…his first victim…Potter…" The words stopped as Harry's potions professor drifted into unconsciousness.

The memory ended. The world around him once again disappeared, returning Harry and Dumbledore to his office. Harry looked up at Dumbledore questioningly. The headmaster spoke. "Upon Lord Voldemort's return last year, I asked Professor Snape to return to him as a spy against him. Initially, he was allowed back, though he was not really trusted. We don't know how Voldemort learned of Severus's true loyalties, and we may never know. But several weeks ago he returned from one of his callings in the shape you saw him, and he has only just fully recovered."

"Lord Voldemort is set in his ways, Harry, I believe he will see his threat to you through to the end, and until he does, he will think of hurting no one but you. That is why we must make absolutely sure that you and your friends stay safe. On cue, Ron and Hermione entered with Professor McGonall, Hermione crying on Ron's shoulder and Ron patting her back attempting to comfort her. Both had gotten over the initial shock delivered by the parchment.

Dumbledore turned to the newcomers. "Thank you, Minerva."

"Harry, there were fourteen besides you at your party correct?" Dumbledore asked. Harry nodded. "I believe those are the fourteen Lord Voldemort is after. Who else was there?"

Harry looked at his two best friends. Hermione's eyes were red, but she was no longer crying. He looked toward Ron. "All the Weasleys," Ron's face went white with realization, "Hermione," her faced paled as well, "Professor Lupin, Sirius, Hagrid, and… and Neville." Hermione started crying once again. Dumbledore nodded toward Professor McGonall, who quickly left the room.

The room fell into silence, and remained that way for several minutes. Only an occasional sob from Hermione disturbed the quiet. After a short while, Fawkes the Pheonix, who had been standing quietly on his perch throughout the whole ordeal, flew over and landed on Harry's knee, beginning a slow mournful song. It comforted Harry a bit, and quieted the weeping Hermione.

The mournful song ended as the door opened and a small group of people led by Professor McGonall entered the Headmaster's office. The group also consisted of Ginny, Fred, George, Hagrid, Remus, Sirius, and Severus Snape, all of whom looked very put out. Harry suspected that Severus felt a little guilty over his treatment of Neville, but knew that it was more than that. Voldemort's focus on Harry had saved Snape's life, and owing his life to two different Potters for two different occasions was more than he could bear. If Harry expected any gratitude or change of heart from his potions teacher the idea was quickly thwarted by the hateful look he received.

"I called this meeting to give you all a warning," came Dumbledore's voice. "I believe that Voldemort is still after Harry, but going about it in a different manner." His eyes floated around the room, stopping on each person who had attended Harry's party. "He is after Harry through his friends, you." His eyes turned toward Harry. "That letter you received on your birthday was not an empty threat. I believe he intends to follow through down to the last party member."

Author's Note: I'm not done with this chapter yet, but it's been a while and I want it out for prime time. I will have the rest up within a few hours (I have an appointment I MUST attend) Check back in a few! I know its not done yet, but please review anyway. I might consider curving it to you're likings.


	5. Thirteen(cont)

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Author's Note: I am extremely sorry about how long it is taking me to write this one chapter, but I worked fifty hours in my job last week, and I'm getting a new job next week, so I will be even more pressed for time. The good news is that I promise, really promise, to have the rest of this chapter out by tomorrow at 5 pm (It's 1 AM now) and that I'm currently (with two jobs working 12-14 hours a day) making 50,000 dollars a year at 18. The bad news, is that 12-14 hours a day is extremely draining (even though 8 of it is getting 10 bucks an hour to sit on my butt and lifeguard) and time-consuming and makes it really hard to find time to write this stuff. But I'm really excited about the number of reviews and I've got ideas flowing into my head like mad. In fact, I've already got the final chapter written, and I'm working my @$$ off trying to get it too you as soon as possible, because I love it and I KNOW you will too. Anyway, enjoy this third of chapter 4 and I promise to have the end of chapter 4 by 5 tomorrow.

PS. If any of you comment about an 18 year old Harry Potter fan, I might just decide to go back on my promise for 5 tomorrow. After all, 18 means better grammar (I think) and competent story-writing (so say the 61 reviewers for 3 and a 1/3 chapters).

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his surrounding characters belong to JK Rowling. And just because I make $50,000 a year doesn't mean you'll get any money out of me. I'm sorta using it on the essentials. You know…rent, food, water, playstations, cd's, tv's, the essentials. 

Chapter 4: Thirteen (continued)

Harry's eyes fell to the floor as his anger swelled. 'He knows. Voldemort knows I take responsibility and suffer for Cedric's death. He knows that I will take responsibility and suffer for the deaths of my friends. They don't matter at all to him. They are just a way in which to torture me…' His thought was interrupted by the return of Dumbledore's voice.

"That is why we must take extra precautions to make sure that all of you are safe."

"But Neville…" cried Hermione.

The headmaster of Hogwarts finished her sentence for her, "Is far beyond our reach even in the small chance that he is still alive. We must protect those who are left." Harry's heart sank even deeper. When Albus Dumbledore was forced into the seemingly cruel and heartless task of cutting one's losses, you knew that truly horrible times were upon you.

"I must insist that all Hogsmeade visits be cancelled, and there will be no leaving the castle without an escort." Harry expected some reaction from the twins, but they remained quiet, still obviously recovering from shock. "There will be extra protections put up around the Burrow, and I ask that all of you stay at Hogwarts for Christmas." The group bobbed their heads with sorrowful nods.

"We are doing everything we can to find out what happened to Neville. A message is currently on its way to his grandmother. She will be coming here so that we may tell her what happened and try to find some information about Neville. I am afraid that this will come as quite a shock to her, and I ask that, when she asks to speak with you, you do so kindly and gently. We must try to comfort her as much as possible." The group nodded once again.

"What about Neville's parents?" asked Ron, who had never been told of the Longbottom's fate. Half of the room cringed at the question, Harry included. But Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Ginny looked as though they didn't have a clue. Dumbledore explained the Longbottom's story and at the end "Hermione burst into tears once again, Ginny looked close to joining her, and Ron, Fred, and George looked somewhat dismally surprised. Apparently none of them had ever thought to ask Neville of his parents.

The children left Dumbledore's office with heavy hearts and returned to their common room. Their entrance was greeted with silence as the group received questioning looks from their fellow Gryffindors. But all questions were answered by the group's downcast heads and sorrowful faces. The crowd opened a passage before them and allowed the six to climb to their respective common room in complete silence. As Harry and Ron entered the fifth year boys' dormitory they heard several sobs emit from the Gryffindors in the common room.

The two young wizards remained silent for several hours without interruption, not wishing to bring up the topic of Neville, but not willing to talk of anything else. In midafternnon a school owl arrived, delivering Harry a letter from Dumbledore and then leaving. Harry read the letter and then silently passed the note to Ron.

Harry and Ron,

This message is to inform you that Mrs. Longbottom, Neville's grandmother, did not wish to see Neville's friends at the moment and has left Hogwarts for St. Mungo's, to visit Neville's parents. We know nothing new of Neville besides that he was put safely onto a King's Cross bound muggle taxi at approximately 9:00 AM September 1, and never entered platform nine and three quarters. We are trying our best to find out more but without much luck. There will be assembly at breakfast and then classes will resume. Please try to do the best that you can to continue learning.

Albus Dumbledore

As Ron read, Harry silently commended the Headmaster of Hogwarts for his decision to resume classes. The great deal f work promised to the fifth years due to owls might take their minds off the problems and hard times that faced them. After finishing, Ron looked up from the letter and finally spoke.

"Did you know about Neville's parents? He never spoke about them to me." Harry nodded. " Then why…"

"I was asked not to tell anyone," interrupted Harry. It was Ron's turn to nod. They were silent again for another few minutes before Dean and Seamus entered the room. Dean and Seamus sat on there respective beds and looked as if they were trying to get up the courage to ask about the situation. Harry decided not to wait for them. He explained about the party, about Voldemort's letter, and about Neville's disappearance. Dean and Seamus just sat and listened looking a bit stunned all the while. At the end, Seamus asked the final question of the night.

"So Neville is really…dead?"

"Dumbledore believes so." Was Harry's reply, and he closed his bed drapes and laid down, a single tear forming on his cheek. He heard three more sets of bed drapes closed as the other three followed suit. Harry finally went into a very unrestful sleep marred by dreams with Neville's screaming and the high, cold laughter of Lord Voldemort. By morning his nightwear would be soaked in a cold feverish sweat.

*******

Harry woke the next morning feeling as though he had not had any sleep at all. His eyes were bloodshot despite being closed for a more than average night's sleep, and his night clothes were drenched in sweat. As he dressed, he noticed that the other four beds in the room were empty, one permanently. He descended the stairs to the common room sickened by the previous day's memories, and wishing that when he entered the common room he would find that he had dreamed the entire incident and that Neville would be sitting in one of the armchairs near the fire, trying to figure out what he had forgotten at home, or possibly hopping around the room after his fleeing toad, Trevor.

But he received no such happy greeting. His eyes met with downcast faces and slumping figures, people wallowing in grief at the loss of one of their fellow Gryffindors. Hermione and the four Weasleys were being left alone in one of the corners of the room, and Harry walked over to join them.

"I was about to come get you," Ron said solemnly, "We have an assembly in the Great Hall in fifteen minutes. As he spoke many of the Gryffindors were leaving through the portrait hole. "Harry, are you all right? You look…worse than the rest of us." It was true. Despite the rest of the group's generally disgruntled and depressed look, Harry seemed as though he had faced all the horrors of his fifteen years in one night, and indeed he had.

"I'll be okay," said the tired, depressed, and overall overwhelmed figure of Harry Potter. "Just need to keep on going."

Hermione gave Ron a very worried look (which was returned) and then stated, "We really should leave for the assembly. Everyone else is already gone." All the other Gryffindors had filed out of the common room. Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys climbed through the portrait hole and descended toward the Great Hall.

Author's Note: Remember to review! Reviews encourage me to keep writing. Who will be next? Make your guesses, I'm not telling til 5 tomorrow.


	6. Thirteen(cont)

As the six entered the Great Hall, all faces turned toward them, Harry in particular

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Author's Note: Yes I know I know, but I don't care if its late. It's good. And I had to go to work. You'll get over it. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his surrounding characters belong to JK Rowling.

Chapter 4: Thirteen (continued)

As the six entered the Great Hall, all faces turned toward them, Harry in particular. Rumor had spread like wildfire through the school, (Apparently Hermione had made the mistake of telling Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown what had happened.) As the Weasleys, Hermione, and Harry sat down, Albus Dumbledore stood and addressed the students.

"I am afraid that as most of you already know we are not here for a happy cause. Many of you witnessed the letter Mr. Harry Potter received and its horrible contents. The voice of Neville Longbottom rang out through the Great Hall and the rooms and hallways of Hogwarts yesterday. I fear that it will never do so again." Several sobs were heard from the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw tables, but Harry noticed that the Slytherins remained composed and overall a bit smug. Draco Malfoy was talking and snickering with his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle. Harry, feeling himself go red with anger, turned his attention back to Dumbledore and tried to take his mind off the things he was imagining happening to Malfoy. "Neville Longbottom is suspected dead by the hands of Voldemort", the majority of the students winced at the name of the Dark Lord, "and the Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra. I ask that we bow our heads in a moment of silence to remember Neville Longbottom, a kind heart, a willing mind, and a loyal friend."

As he bowed his head, Harry recalled specifically the times in which Neville's bravery had stood out. He remembered the time Neville had stood up to them when they had tried to leave Gryffindor tower first year. He remembered Neville trying to come and find them late at night when they were delivering Norbert to the tower that night. He remembered the time Neville had tried to take on Crabbe and Goyle on his lonesome. But most of all he remembered the screams, the cries of agony he had heard only a day before, and the final words spoken by the Dark Lord himself, ending his poor friend's life. And it was all Harry's fault.

As Dumbledore sat down, conversation slowly returned to the Great Hall. No one dared speak to Harry, Hermione, or Ron, but this did not bother the threesome too much. The loudest table by far was that of the Slytherins, who seemed unaffected by the rest of the school's gloom. At the end of breakfast, Dumbledore stood up once again.

"You will resume your schedules as they have been dictated, classes will continue as they must, and you need only ask if you wish to speak to anyone. We must live on with our lives and continue our lessons, to honor the memory of those no longer with us. Good day." He left. The teachers and students followed suit.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione headed toward their first class of the new school year.

"Of all classes that could be first after that, why did it have to be double potions with the Slytherins?" moaned Ron. Harry and Hermione seemed equally downtrodden. As they entered the dungeons and sat in their traditional seats in the back of the class, Neville was missed all the more. "Oh no," commented Ron, "we don't have an even number of Gryffindors any more!" He was quite right of course. Neville had always been the eighth, and, though no Gryffindor really wanted him as a potions partner, he would be preferred to ANY Slytherin, especially…

"Draco Malfoy." Snape finished Harry's sentence for him with a much different tone than Harry would have used for that name. "You will partner with Mr. Potter please, seeing as there are now an odd number of Gryffindors in this class." The Slytherins sniggered. Harry's mouth fell open. He never expected that Snape was actually THAT cruel. The potions master looked in Harry's direction and sneered. "I advise you to keep your mouth closed, Mr. Potter, in a class known for brewing rather harmful potions." More chuckles from the Slytherins. Harry promptly and silently gathered his things and sat next to his arch rival. Malfoy sneered.

"Today I have been asked against my judgement to teach you cheering potions." Harry's mouth nearly fell open again. "I suggest you make concoct your potions correctly or your partner will suffer some rather…unpleasant effects." Harry caught a mad glint in Malfoy's eye, one which he did not like in the least.

But by the end of class, less several nerves and several more house points, both Harry's and Draco's potions had worked perfectly. Harry was happily walking with his friends up the stairs from potions, all sad thoughts pushed from his mind. Ron seemed to have overdone his potion a bit as Hermione was absolutely skipping in circles around the two. "I'm going to Arithmancy, I'm going to Arithmancy," she chanted. Harry's cheering potion wore off very quickly. Snape had said that even the cheerfulness produced by the potion could be overwhelmed by one's dark thoughts. Harry's was: 'If Hermione is headed to Arithmancy, I'm headed to Divination.' Ron seemed to have realized this too, and the smile was wiped from his face. Hermione had already skipped off to her next class.

"I say we skip," said Ron, "I don't think I can handle her telling us how she predicted Neville's death." Harry nodded, but then disagreed.

"Dumbledore must have talked to Snape. I would think he talked to Trelawney as well." Ron resignedly agreed and the two best friends ascended to the Divination tower. Sybil Trelawney greeted them airily as she entered the rooms from the shadows.

"Welcome, my dears, to another year of exploring your pasts, your futures, and you inner selves." Dean and Seamus, still under the influence of cheering charms, snickered loudly. Lavender and Parvati looked as though they were in heaven. Professor Trelawney continued, "I have been asked not to speak of the classmate of yours whom the fates have taken from you," Ron looked relieved. Sybil Trelawney looked disappointed. "So we will begin our studies in the art of nomenclature. Nomenclature is the study of the importance of names and their use in the gifts of Divination. Today we will discuss the possible references of your names to your own lives, and the different ways in which nomenclature can be studied. Please take a blank piece of parchment and write your name on it."

The class followed her orders. Harry felt quite stupid writing his name as an assignment, and wondered drowsily if he could get extra points for writing it more than once. He nearly laughed at the idea.

"Now say your own name out loud." Only two voices ("Lavender Brown", "Parvati Patil") were heard, as clearly more than half the class thought she was joking. She was not.

"Harry James Potter."

"Dean Thomas."

Seamus Finnigan."

"Ron Weasley."

Sybil Trelawney spoke again. "I see Mr. Potter was the only one to use his middle name. There is a signifigance in such things. Why did you do so Harry?" Harry Potter suddenly wished he had hadn't used his middle name, as it had singled him out for the teacher who absolutely loved to single him out.

"I don't know."

"Well, clearly…" started the Divination professor.

"I don't know." Harry repeated. Professor Trelawney seemed annoyed, but went on.

"We will first attempt to use nomenclature by the subtleties of pronunciation. Try to form words other than your names by saying your names, and try to think of possible meanings for the words you find. Say your names once again." They did. "And again, but stress different syllables." They did. "Try to use your knowledge of foreign languages as well. Some meaning in names are found in Latin, French, German, Greek, or other languages." Harry was growing tired of this.

"Harry James Potter" He repeated for the umpteenth time, still finding nothing in his name but that Harry sounded like "hairy" and of course everyone knew who a potter was but where was the significance in that? Everyone else seemed to be having the same trouble until.

"Oh my goodness, Harry!" Lavender Brown had squealed. "Your last name, when you say it like that, sounds like 'pater', which is Latin for father! And the e sound in Harry is Latin for out of. So if you fiddle with it a bit…Your name could mean that you got your hair from your father! And wasn't his name James?" Sybil Trelawney, looked ecstatic, first because one of her "star students" had noticed this, and that it had been about Harry.

"So?" Harry asked. "Everyone knows my hair looks like my dad's." Lavender looked a bit taken back, but Professor Trelawney jumped in.

"Mr. Potter, the art of nomenclature tells you of who you are, whether it is obvious or not. That was very good, Ms. Brown." Lavender's face lightened once again. "Let us now look at a different use of nomenclature. You have your name written in front of you. Jumble it and try to make words with it. This form of nomenclature may tell you of your future."

The bell rang. "You're homework is to use nomenclature to help find more about you and at least three people you know. Don't pick the same people!"

"Stupid old fraud," commented Ron. "I can't even find anything in my own name not to mention three other people's." Harry nodded.

"Hair of my father, really, as if anyone hadn't noticed." They walked into the Great Hall looking for Hermione. She was already eating supper at the Gryffindor table. As they sat down with her, Harry noticed that she hadn't quite recovered from the cheering potion, as she had a large grin plastered on her face.

"Hello Harry, Ron. Any Homework?"

"Plenty."

Hermione laughed, "Well I don't have any." She gave them a big smile. The potion had DEFINITELY not worn off.

"Have you been like this all day?" asked Ron. "It's annoying."

Hermione's smile faded. Apparently Ron's disapproval had hit her a bit harder than he had intended. "Well if you hadn't botched that potion I wouldn't be like that now would I?" The potion was gone. The three sat quietly and concentrated on their dinners, not wanting an argument. Harry especially did not need an altercation at the moment, as the memory of Neville's death had just come back and hit him full in the face after his mind had been cleared for classes for a day. He kept his eyes on his plate as he used his fork to move his food around, suddenly losing his appetite. He barely noticed the large group of owl flutter in with messages for the students.

But then he felt it. A coldness, a bite, a chill. He shivered. He knew what was coming before it came. A loud shriek brought screams from the students. Harry looked up to see the thing he dreaded. A black hawk flying in his direction. He stood up, though trembling and weak in the knees. The horrible bird dropped a parchment into his hand, which was unwillingly outstretched. The parchment unrolled on its own. A cold voice pierced the suddenly silent Great Hall. 

"Crucio." The screams were loud and agonizing. They were screams of fear and pain, unending unsurmountable pain. They lasted, they went on, they kept going for an eternity. And finally they stopped. Ended by two words, "Avada Kedavra." Charlie Weasley was dead.

Author's Note: Please Review.


	7. Twelve (part 1)

Ron Weasley was in shock

Author's Note: I'm alive! I'm alive! And I'm back at the computer! And my writer's block is gone! (mostly) And I can't believe how many reviews you wonderful people have given me! And thanks to all that reviewed The Boy Who Lived is Dead! Thank you so much! So… I'm back at college and my time is severely cut down thanks to lots of homework plus a full time job. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to stay up late every night and work on this story because I want to finish it! So who cares if I'm tired at class in the morning? I'll get over it. It's only sleep after all. **Yawns**. Oh dear. Well here's part of chapter 5, just because I couldn't bear to make you wait any longer. I have decided not to add extra chapters like I did with four. Rather I will be adding to this chapter, so check back or you'll miss something! Anyway, here goes…

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Chapter 5: Twelve

By: Amadeus

Ron Weasley was in shock. His lower lip began to tremble as his mouth moved without sound. Ginny fainted to the ground. The twins' eyes were wide with horror, but otherwise they were not moving. Hermione Granger was crying softly, her eyes already red. Harry merely continued to look down at the parchment. The black Dark Mark was burned into the paper, and below it was a number. Nothing but a cruel and horrible number, the most unlucky in every way. 13.

Suddenly Harry ran from the room. The silent Great Hall let him leave without hindering him. His eyes grew wet, and tears began to stream down his face as he ran. He didn't know where he was going, but he didn't care. He simply kept running without direction, occassionally turning down a different hall or leaping up or down a stairwell. After a while of running he sat down next to a statue, too exhausted to continue or even to remain standing, his eyes red and dry, all his tears long shed. His face was red as well, except for two streaks originating from his eyes, indicating the track of his tears.

He sat for several minutes, not really thinking about anything except pain and suffering, and his parents came to mind. And all of his friendless years at primary school came to mind. And his Hogwarts friends came to mind. Ron and Hermione…and Ginny. And Neville came to mind. And… Charlie came to mind. And then he heard footsteps coming down the hall. The feet walked in front of him, and turned towards him. He looked up from the feet to see the face of Albus Dumbledore.

Dumbledore slowly offered his hand to Harry, who accepted it, using it to help him stand. Only now did he realize that the statue next to him was the gargoyle which led to Dumbledore's office. Slowly they climbed the spiral stairs toward the place which had become so familiar to Harry in his past years at Hogwarts.

But until the end of last year, and this year, it had always held a sort of impenetrable happiness. Now it just seemed dark and gloomy, just another stone room with old portraits of dead people. Dumbledore sat behind his desk, looking older now than Harry had ever remembered. They sat in silence for a while, both gazing downward, before dumbledore looked up at Harry.

"I have asked Arthur and Molly Weasley and they have agreed to use the fidelius charm. The Weasleys right now are the Dark Lord's easiest target, unprotected as they are." He paused. Harry looked up into his eyes. There was no twinkle, nor any evidence that there had ever been. "They were wondering if you-"

"No." Harry said plainly, not letting the Headmaster of Hogwarts finish.

"They said that they trust you more than anyone else they know, and-"

"No."

"May I ask why not?"

"You have said yourself that I am currently the main target of Voldemort. I am the reason that the Weasleys are in as much danger as they are in. I am the reason that Charlie… I refuse to put them in any more danger than they are already in because of me."

"Harry, it is not your fault that-"

"Don't tell me that."

"You must know that-"

"I know nothing of the sort. Voldemort is after them because they are MY friends. They are MY family. YOU know nothing about it. GOODBYE!"

And with that Harry stormed out of Dumbledore's office, raging at the incompetence of one he had thought so wise for so long. But the wheels in Harry's head were turning very quickly in his moment of rashness, and he was formulating a plan, two plans in fact. He knew that Voldemort would come after him and his friends as long as he was alive. In his mind, this left him two options. The first was to go after the Dark Lord by himself, most likely getting himself killed. This was beginning to seem like a good plan (believe it or not) until he realized that the Dark Lord would be likely afterwards to come after his friends anyway.

The second option, which Harry quickly and rashly determined was the best, was to make sure he had NO friends and NOone that he cared about, and to make sure everyone knew it. Harry Potter was drunk intoxicated by his anger and grief, and, as many of you know, intoxication leads to bad decisions. This is one that Harry would regret for years and years to come (if he lived that long).

He had run straight to the portrait of the fat lady without even knowing that he was going anywhere, not to mention where. Giving the password ("Herbology" (Neville's favorite subject)) Harry stepped into the usually joyous and comforting common room already regretting what he was going to do to his relationships with Ron, Hermione, Ginny…he paused. Ginny… could he do this? The answer was yes. He had to. It was his only chance to save them.

The entire common room turned to face him as he entered, and any noise (mostly whimpers and cries) that could be heard before Harry had been seen swiftly ceased. Harry took one quick look around the room. The Weasleys were in one corner of the room, accompanied by Hermione, Lee Jordan, and the girls of the Gryffindor quidditch team (Harry had noticed that Fred, Lee, and George had spent quite a bit of time with them, though he didn't really know who was paired with who). He did not approach them. Rather he gave the whole common room a bit of a shock as he gave a look of anger much greater than he felt, and stormed up to his dormitory. He was far out of hearing range when any more sounds were made in the common room.

When the rest of the fifth year Gryffindor boys came up to the tower they saw that Harry's drapes were closed. None of them dared to disturb him, not even wrong, though late at night though it was, they heard a soft hissing through the covers. Harry was speaking with Salazar, who he felt was the only one he could really talk to, now that he had to hide from and, if he could, turn on his friends.

"Harry Potter looks upset." Hissed Salazar.

"Harry Po- I am a bit upset. Voldemort is absolutely ruining my life. He is killing everyone I care about, and there's nothing I can do. I don't think I was ever meant to have any friends." Harry was quite depressed. The only one he could speak to about his problems was a snake, and snakes are far from the most comforting and cuddly creatures.

"Why is there nothing Harry Potter can do?" asked the small garden snake.

"The Dark Lord is the most powerful wizard in the world, Salazar, I doubt even Dumbledore is as powerful. And I, I am fifteen years old, and only an average student at that. I have been extremely lucky to escape from him as may times as I have. I will not be so lucky forever. And now even my luck is doing me no good. He is no longer coming after me directly. He is doing far worse, and, I think, is doing more damage than Avada Kedavra could ever do. I can't protect them, Salazar, I'm only fifteen. What can I do?"

"I do not know, Harry Potter, what can you do?" the snake returned.

"Voldemort is going after my friends, he is going after the people I care about. Isn't the answer logical?"

"It is, Harry Potter. If Harry Potter cares for no one, then no one will be hurt." The snake smoothly fed him his own logic. It comforted Harry to know that he had made the "sensible and logical" choice to push away his friends. But he still questioned his own ability to do so.

Author's Note: AS I said check back tomorrow and there WILL be more. Please review.


	8. Twelve (cont)

Author's Note: Well, that took me a while

Author's Note: Well, that took me a while. You'll have to excuse me though. I'm afraid we've all been busy over the past month or so with school and work and, other things. My heart goes to all those involved in the disaster of September 11. I'm afraid that this part isn't really very cheerful, in fact I rather surprised myself while writing it. Please don't read this section if you are easily offended. I hope you enjoy this. A dark Harry has always fascinated me, but I rarely get to read dark Harry fics, and have never gotten to write one. Well, I'm done. Enjoy this chapter, I'll get the next one out as soon as possible.

Disclaimer: Jk Rowling owns Harry Potter and all his surrounding characters. I own and am addicted to my computer, and anyone who tries to steal it from me had better watch their back!

The next morning Harry woke before anyone else, hoping with all his might that it had all been a dream, and yet knowing that it wasn't, and that there was nothing he could do about it. And then he remembered that he WAS going to do something about it.

He looked over at Ron's bed, the drapes still closed. He thought of Hermione and Ginny. What was this going to do to them? Would they do alright without him? Would he be alright without them? He began to wonder if this was such a good idea after all…

He quietly got dressed and picked up his books and other things he would need before descending the stairs into an empty common room. He did not remain to wait for his friends, scratch that, ex-friends.

The Great Hall, too, was empty, or nearly so. There were a few students here and there along the other tables, but none at the Gryffindor one, and nobody he knew. They looked up at him as he entered, before quickly as ostentatiously returning back to their breakfasts.

Harry took no notice. He was busy thinking of a way to relieve himself of Ron and Hermione, so that everyone could see. He had to embarrass them, he had to be cruel to them, he had to…hate them. And that gave him an idea. He opened his potions book to the index, quickly scanning and finding what he was looking for. Potions was to be first again today. He had to be ready.

As the Gryffindors began filing into the Great Hall, including Ron and Hermione, Harry discreetly swept away from the table, heading towards the dungeons. He walked in silent meditation during the trip, memorizing the ingredients for the potion he would be "accidently" concocting in class, the Hatefulness potion. Its effects only lasted for a few moments, but that would be enough for him to accomplish what he wanted.

When he arrived at the classroom, Snape was already there. The Potions master looked truly shocked for a moment before recovering and deducting ten points from Gryffidor because he was "too early". Harry nodded and sat down in his usual seat, giving little thought to the reaction of his professor. Snape looked at him strangely and scrutinizingly once again before returning to his desk and sitting down.

As the class filed in, both Gryffindors and Slytherins looked surprisedly at Harry before sitting down in their seats. Harry had clearly built up a reputation for being anything but early to Snape's class.

Ron and Hermione sat on either side of him, but neither attempted to talk to him. Snape grudgingly proceeded to tell them that they would be concocting the truthfulness potion, a potion that showed one's true feelings toward another. As he listed the ingredients, Harry's eyes lit up. THIS WAS PERFECT! Harry would have checked the calender to make sure it wasn't Christmas…but Christmas didn't usually involve dungeons and Snape and parting with one's friends. The only difference between the potion he was SUPPOSED to make and the potion he was GOING to make were the beetle eyes. The truthfulnes potion called for them to carefully grind their beetle eyes, while the hatefulness potion required that the beetle eyes be whole.

When the time came for the beetle eyes to be added, Harry looked to make sure no one would be watching. Ron was busily trying to make his potion change to a dark green, as it was supposed to be, from a neon orange. Harry nearly laughed. Hermione was busy arguing with Milicent Bulstrode, with whom she had had the bad luck to be partnered with. Snape was busy commenting on the perfection of Malfoy's potion, despite its rather interesting sky blue tinge. Harry slipped in the whole beetle eyes while no one noticed.

At the end of the class, Snape, as usual suggested that they test someone's potion. Harry was expecting this and conveniently chose that moment to mutter to Ron, somewhat loudly, that Snape was a stupid git.

"Potter and Weasley!" Ron looked up at Harry accusingly before turning to Snape "How kind of you to volunteer! Both of you will take a sample of Potter's potion, which, I might add, looks a tad off color." He sneered. But to Harry, the potion's color was perfect. Indeed, it was one of the few times Harry had ever got a potion correct. Too bad it wasn't the potion he was supposed to make.

Harry gave Snape the worst sneer he could muster (which earned him another loss of Gryffindor's points) and then thrust a vial of his potion into Ron's hand, taking one in his own. Both gulped the potion in one swallow.

For a moment, nothing happened, and Harry wondered if he had done something wrong. He hoped he hadn't. But somewhere inside him, he hoped he had. All questions were answered, however, when suddenly an undeniable rage sprouted within him which directed itself towards that… red-headed…Weasley, in front of him. That stupid, irrational, carrot headed piece of $*#&! He sneered at the dumb $&^&$ in front of him, wondering what the Hell had possesed him to call such a stupid, jealous, imbecile his friend.

Ron's face contorted to show equal rage. "You!" he shouted.

"That's right Weasley, me!" Harry shouted back.

"You bastard!" Ron countered. "You sadistic piece of %^&*!"

Somehow Harry found the presence of mind to redirect his rage away from simple cursing into a subject. "You deserve what your'e gonna get, Weasley. You AND you're family!" Somewhere deep in his mind he knew that he didn't mean this, and that Ron's family was his family as well, but right now he was to busy enjoying the shocked look on that stupid Weasel's face to heed it. "What, speechless?" he taunted. "You always were incompetent. I don't know how I put up with you and the Mudblood for so long."

During this speech the entire class had gone pale, except for Malfoy, who looked quite amused. Even Snape seemed to be paler than usual and at a loss for words. In the corner of his eye Harry saw "that Granger girl" with a horrified look on her face, and turned to face her.

"What are you looking at Mudblood!? You always were an insufferable know-it-all. Didn't know this did you? All that reading and you're still to stupid to figure out the simplest things. How typical of you and you're kind!"

As Hermione's face contorted into a mixture of true surprise and hurt, Harry knew somewhere in the depths of his mind that he had gone WAY too far. He finished by throwing her the most sinister look he could conjure up and turning back to Ron, who had nearly recovered.

"Always wanted to do that," Harry stated to Ron in mock gleefulness.

"It's always about you, isn't it?" Ron returned angrily. THIS was the direction Harry had wanted to go when he had made this plan. He smiled wickedly.

"Jealous?" He asked calmly, the evil sneer still distorting his usually somewhat handsome face.

Ron responded by with all his might throwing a punch at Harry's chin, and, at the last second trying to pull back. The result was a relatively light punch that would cause no permanent damage, but still hurt and knocked Harry down. The potion had worn off. Ron looked stunned, as did Harry. Had he ACTUALLY said those things to his best friends? The looks on the faces of the class answered his question plainly.

Surprisingly, the first one to recover was Ron, who offered his hand to Harry who was currently sitting, not getting up from Ron's punch. After a moment Harry took it, and stood up with the help of his best friend. He wished that the potion hadn't worn off yet. He wished that the hatred it generated could help him do what he was about to do. As he stood up, he caught Ron's eye, and held it. They gazed into each others eyes for what seemed an eternity, but in reality was only the shortest of moments. Then Harry gathered all the strength he could muster and punched Ron as hard as he could in the stomach. The boy doubled over in pain and writhed on the floor in agony. Harry looked down at him for a few seconds, forcing a sneer to appear on his face where there should have been a look of absolute horror, and briskly walked out of the room

As he left the room of petrified students he forced out a cackle. But it was not his usual quiet and joyful laughter. It was cold and heartless. It was evil. He had heard that sound once before. It was long ago, fourteen years to be in fact. He remembered that cold heartless laugh from the night his parents had died. He remembered that cackle coming from the most powerful, most evil Dark Wizard of all times. It had haunted his nightmares for fourteen years. And now it was his. And it would haunt him and the rest of the potions class for the rest of their lives, however long…or short they might be.

Author's Note: Ok. Like I said. Dark Harry. Note that this does NOT mean that Harry is actually evil. Remember, he has to ACT that way to push everyone away. With that noted, I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please review and tell me so. If you didn't, please tell me why not.


	9. Twelve (cont)

Harry Potter waited until he was out of the potions class's sight before he started to run

Author's Note: Hello everyone! I'm actually getting this chapter out in a somewhat timely fashion, being less than five days since the last one. I'm really working hard to get these out to you, but combining work and school really makes it hard. I'm typing them up as fast as I can. This isn't really the biggest action chapter, but it's necessary to the plot. As you can see, I'm still working on number twelve, and I doubt this is even going to be the longest chapter. I assure you I'm trying to finish this as fast as I can, because I already have ideas for some other fics! Enjoy…

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his surrounding characters are the property of JK Rowling's brilliant mind. Salazar is mine, but his namesake isn't. I'm just completely unoriginal aren't I. Oh well…

14

Chapter 5: Twelve (cont)

Harry Potter waited until he was out of the potions class's sight before he started to run. Faster and faster, he didn't know where he was going. He just let his feet guide him. His mind, as you might guess, was a little too busy with other things. For instance, what the HELL had he just done? Well. That was a simple question. He had just completely ruined his four-year long friendship with Ron and Hermione. He had completely estranged himself from the rest of the fifth year Gryffindors, and, when they found out, the entire house. He had hurt his two best friends in ways that not even Draco Malfoy or Severus Snape could hurt them. He had made himself look stuck up, dark, and, worst of all, evil. AND he had above all, above all these horrible things, accomplished what he had set out to do.

His feet had put him on automatic pilot to the Gryffindor common room. He now stood in front of the Fat Lady, who had an expectant look on her face, waiting for him to mention the password. He paused.

He wasn't ready to face the common room full of Gryffindors yet. Even if none of them knew what he had done (Surely, he was the first one here, the way he had been running), he still couldn't face them. Not yet. He had to steel himself. He had to prepare himself for the onslaught his actions would cause. He had to be ready to hide his own emotions and perform other ones…evil ones.

He wasn't ready yet. He had to hide from them until he was. He walked away from the fat lady, who was extremely annoyed at being bothered for no reason, and let him know it. He ignored her and continued walking, contemplating where he could hide.

It had to be some place private, some place safe, that only he knew about. It had to be hidden even from the view of the Marauders map, and thus hidden from the Weasley twins. But, if such a place did exist at Hogwarts, a place the Weasley twins didn't know about that is, he certainly had never heard of it. Unless…

Moaning Myrtle's bathroom was not very far from the Gryffindor tower, and it was the entrance to Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets. The chamber was his secret, and His. There was no one else in the world who could enter besides he and Voldemort, well, not that he could think of just then anyway. But he would kick himself for that assumption later. (A/N: Note: FORESHADOWING HERE!…Sorry, I was a little bored and had to input something of my own. Forgive me…or don't. See if I care.) After all, the only ones who could enter the Chamber of Secrets were those who could speak Parseltongue.

He prayed that Moaning Myrtle would be terrorizing (agonizing) the prefects' bathroom or some other bathroom, or any bathroom but this one. Luckily, at that moment Myrtle was moping her heart and soul (wait a second…scratch the heart…but soul can stay) out to Cho Chang in the prefects' bathroom, who was politely listening to everything the ghost said, and, according to Myrtle, was purposefully insulting her by breathing, which she knew very well poor, helpless Myrtle couldn't do any more.

Anyway, Harry's prayers were answered as he was allowed to enter the Chamber without interruption. The slide seemed both longer and shorter than last time, and when it ended he stumbled, but did not fall, as he knew somewhat what to expect.

He could have stayed there, and no one would have bothered him. He knew that. But for some reason he had the urge to visit the Basilisk's grave site, where he had faced the memory of Tom Riddle only a little over two years ago, saving Ginny….Ginny. She didn't know what he had done yet. Would she believe his act? Would he be able to act? _Was it an act?_ He shuddered suddenly. The last question was too much. He had no idea where it had come from, but he didn't like it. Of course it was an act. He would never _really_ treat his friends like that, would he? _Would he?_ He looked around. Suddenly he wasn't quite so sure that Tom Riddle's memory was _completely_ gone. But he continued on, finding nothing visibly out of the ordinary.

When he finally reached the site of his second year battle (he had only a minimal amount of trouble getting through the cave-in), he discovered that the once powerful and dangerous basilisk was now nothing but skin and bones. Somehow it saddened him to see such a magnificent creature lost to the world. Never mind that it had nearly succeeded in killing him, his friends, and shutting down Hogwarts. He began to wonder if Hagrid would have liked it. No, Harry decided, he would not. This magnificent creature, after all, had caused Hagrid to be expelled in its first venture, and had put him in Azkaban during the second. Hagrid would definitely NOT have liked it.

Instead of sitting against the wall or laying down on the floor, Harry chose to lean against the great snake skeleton, what was left of the skin crackling apart behind his weight. He stayed there for several hours, thinking about his friends, what he had done, Voldemort, and then just randomly thinking. As he had been not been bothered for nearly three hours, and did not expect to be, it was justifiable that Harry jumped several feet in the air (his heart going a little higher) when a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Hello, Harry Potter."

It took several minutes for Harry to calm down after seeing the speaker, and, after giving himself the previously mentioned kick, he finally replied. "Hello, Salazar."

"Why is Harry Potter in large dungeon leaning on large snake skeleton?" Harry wasn't sure whether to interpret Salazar's voice (he hadn't talked to very many snakes, you remember, and thus wasn't an excellent judge of expression or pronunciation) as confused or simply curious, and did his best to answer either scenario.

"Harry Po-," why did Salazar have to use third person? It was confusing. "I am down here because I am hiding."

"From whom and why is Harry Potter hiding?" Salazar's use of the third person was beginning to get annoying.

"I am hiding from…" Who was he hiding from, again? "Er…Ron, and, um, Hermione, and um, you know, the rest of them, because, er… I don't like them any more."

"Hermione with frizzy brown hair?" Salazar asked.

"Yes."

"I didn't like her. Too loud." Salazar said plainly, as if Harry had been crazy to have ever liked her.

Harry laughed, and then stopped. Hermione wasn't his friend any more. Neither was Ron. Neither was any other Gryffindor. Or Ravenclaw. Or even Hufflepuff. He didn't even want to think about Slytherin, and Draco Malfoy.

"I don't think I was ever meant to have friends, Salazar."

"Salazar will be Harry Potter's friend." The snake proposed.

Harry smiled. But it was a sad smile. "Thank you, Salazar."

"Harry Potter is welcome." That third person was _really _starting to annoy Harry. But at least with someone who he could talk to, somehow nothing seemed quite as bad. As long as he had one friend, Harry might be able to push away all the others without going completely insane, and, he wasn't positive, but he was pretty sure hissing would sound very unfriendly, and, hopefully, evil (or at least very unkind) to everyone else. After all, look what had happened second year when the school found out that he was a Parselmouth.

He stood up, allowing Salazar to curl around his arm, and walked back to the Chamber's entrance. When he got there, he suddenly realized a rather important detail which he had not thought of earlier. He didn't know how to get back up! He looked at Salazar. Salazar looked back.

"Any clues as to how we get back up?" Harry asked.

"No." came the reply.

"Great. Simply Marvelous." POP!

He was back in Myrtle's bathroom. He looked at Salazar questioningly. Salazar merely stared back. Then he did something rather stupid. "Open." He slid back down.

"Marvelous." He stated to no one in particular when he reached the bottom. Nothing happened. "Simply." He said. Still nothing. "Great?" Nothing. "Oops." (As you can imagine, that one didn't work either.)

"Oops is not good, Harry Potter." Salazar stated simply, as he slid from Harry's wrist back to the ground. Harry sat down to think.

Great. Simply Marvelous. Marvelous. Marvolous? "Marvolo?" He asked the opening. Nothing happened. "Damn." As Salazar slithered back onto his wrist, he insulted himself. "Stupid, stupid, stupid. How stupid do I have to be. Honestly, as if I could just say Marvolo and-" POP! He was back in the girls' bathroom again.

"Hmmmph." Said Harry. He certainly wasn't going back down AGAIN. Even he wasn't that stupid. But he thought he had figured it out, if ever he needed it. (Just in case he _was_ that stupid) It had to do with "Marvolo", obviously. He had pronounce "Marvelous" in such a way the first time. But it also had to do with coming in contact with Salazar. Harry reasoned that Salazar was a portkey (any snake would most likely serve as a portkey) and "Marvolo" was the activation code. He was NOT going to try it out. Especially since he thought he could hear a soft whimpering behind one of he stalls.

He quickly and quietly escaped the bathroom, heading back to Gryffindor tower. Everyone would know by now. But he was ready for them. "Dragonheart" he said, steeling himself for whatever came at him.

As he climbed through the porthole, he expected silence. He got it. First years backed away from him as he entered. Ron and Hermione went conspicuously back to their game of chess, stealing glances at him. Everyone wanted to know whether or not Harry was _really_ "evil", or whether it was just some big joke the fifth years were playing. No one wanted to be the first to test him.

Fred and George (of course) were the first to break the silence, skipping up to him gleefully, and telling him jokingly that "there were some very strange rumors going around about him." Silence again. He laughed. It was a good laugh, his normal one. Gryffindor Tower released their collective breaths, looking at the other fifth years accusingly. Relief flooded the tower. Conversations began again. Ron and Hermione stood up to welcome Harry back. But Harry would never receive the welcome. He was too busy punching Fred in the nose and George in the stomach. The common room silenced quickly. The twins had doubled over to the floor in pain.

Harry looked down at them. And sneered. "I dislike rumors." He stated in the most horrible voice he could manage. He walked towards the stairs. The crowd divided as he walked, giving him a large spread. Only one person remained in his way. Ginny Weasley was standing in the middle of the bottom of his dormitory's staircase.

"Out of the way." Harry commanded her.

She shook her head, and stood her ground, pleading at him with her eyes, which were wet with the coming of tears. Harry couldn't take it. He pulled back his hand, as if to slap her, and let fly. She squealed and ducked. She was too slow. He would have hit her, had he not stopped his hand within inches of her cheek.

"Stay out of my way, Weasley. Or you'll regret it." He passed by the poor teary-eyed girl and stomped up to his dormitory. He cried for hours that night. But no one knew. The fifth year Gryffindor boys did not approach their room. They slept downstairs. Even if they had come up, they would not have heard him. After fourteen years with the Dursleys, he had learned to cry silently. Salazar spent the night on his wrist, annoying Harry by talking to him in third person more than comforting him. But Harry didn't complain. He didn't want to insult his only friend in the world.

Author's Note: I was a bit disappointed with last chapter's reviews, as there were less than usual. I really like to read your take on my story. Please Review!


	10. Twelve (cont)

A/N: I'm sorry this chaper took me so long, but work and school tend to take away all my free time. I'll be coming out with the next chapter within the next couple days, I think. Thanks to all my reviewers! I love hearing from you! P.S. if you like humor, I've got a new fic out entitled Harry Potter Pairings from A to Z. Read it if you get the chance!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his surrounding characters are owned by

14

Chapter 5: Twelve (cont)

By: Amadeus

Harry didn't sleep the entire night. He was to busy thinking of the horrible things he had just done. Thus when he finally emerged from the fifth year boys dormitory, his eyes were bloodshot underlied by dark circles and drooping eyelids. He waited until he knew everyone would already have headed down to breakfast before leaving himself, knowing he still had a show to put on. Yesterday for the fifth years, last night for all of Gryffindor, and today for the whole school. He dearly hoped Dumbledore would not be at breakfast this morning.

As he entered the Great Hall, his wish was granted. In fact none of the teachers were there. His train of thought was interrupted, however, by the sudden silence of the Great Hall as he entered, followed by quiet murmurs from all the houses. The word had spread. They knew. But they needed to see it for themselves. He would show them.

He held his head high, a sneer plastered on his face as he headed purposefully to the end of the Gryffindor table farthest from the staff table, currently occupied by a single first year, isolated from the rest of her house, who always opted to sit rather close to the teachers (in case Slytherin tried anything devious). Surprisingly, she was oblivious to the entire situation, her head buried in a book. Actually, it was Hogwarts: A History. A brief image of Hermione popped into his head. Not as she was now. But as she had been as a first year, isolated and without friends, her nose always in a book.

The first year Hermione had been frightened so easily, petrified and scared out of her wits (though even then there had been quite a lot of them) by a troll. Harry felt sorry the poor first year sitting alone at the end of table. After all, Hermione had only had to deal with a troll. _She_ would have to deal with the famous Harry Potter, now widely known throughout Hogwarts (or so he was now hearing from the murmurs) as Voldemort's new right hand, and as the next You-Know-Who.

He walked up to her and stood over her, making sure his shadow fell over her book. The Great Hall held there collective breaths. She looked up, still oblivious, but surely having figured that something was wrong, and nearly jumped out of her chair to see a very mean and evil looking Harry Potter (next You-Know-Who) sneering down at her.

Harry bowed down a little, met her scared little eyes, and conjured the most powerful most evil voice he could muster. "Move!" he said. She screamed and ran as fast as her poor little legs could carry her out of the Great Hall. Harry made a huge mental note to find out who she was and profusely apologize to her if ever he got the chance to be himself again. But for now he sat down and began to eat, looking down at his food, feeling the stares of the entire Hall upon him. He summoned a hideous sneer to his face again, looking up and trying to meet each and every fearful pair of eyes in the Hall with hatred. Very few continued to stare. Even the Slytherins backed down in fear.

In the silence that followed as he returned to his breakfast (he had opted for bacon, sausage, and ham, hoping that people would notice his carnivorous diet. A/N: So I'm carrying it a little overboard. What can I say? I love Dark Harry!), he heard two chairs scrape the Great Hall's floor, and footsteps coming toward him. He already knew with out looking whose footsteps they were. Ron and Hermione took the two chairs next to him. Ron looked as though Hermione had only just barely talked him into this. Therefore he would be the easier target. He had always had a bad temper problem, and Harry knew even better than Malfoy how to get to him. Therefore he ignored Hermione and turned to glare at Ron.

"And what the Hell do you think you're doing, Weasley?" Ron got very red before settling down to reply.

"Harry, I'm sorry for what I said yesterday. It wasn't really me. I mean to say..er… it was like there was something else…er…your portion…er…"

"You trying to say something, Weasel?" Harry sneered. " You should leave the talking to the Mudblood. She's _much_ better at it. She's had _a lot_ more practice." Ron lost it. Harry sneered. _That wasn't hard_. He thought. Calling Hermione a Mudblood had brought a gasp from the entire school, but Ron, who had seemed to be quite taken with Hermione recently, went over the top.

"That's enough Harry! You call her that one more time and I'll…and I'll…" he paused suddenly thinking about what he was saying and who he was saying it to. His temper had lost momentum. Harry gave it another nudge…er…push…er…well, let's just say it would involve a timer and a whole lot of C4 explosives.

"Mudblood."

"That's it!" And Ron, contrary to the screams of a hysteric Hermione, proceeded to punch Harry in the face, or he tried to anyway. But Ron had not counted on Harry's quickness, refined by years of dodging the fists of Uncle Vernon and the frying pans of Aunt Petunia, not to mentioned Dudley and his gang. Harry knew how to defend himself, and even Ron, experienced as he was with six older brothers, was having a difficult time getting a punch in.

By the time McGonall entered the Great Hall and broke up the fight ("Harry Potter, what on earth?") Ron was down on his side in fetal position trying to salvage his body from the seemingly lightening-fast blur that had once been his best friend. No one had come to his aid. They were too shocked, and besides they had expected the taller, more muscular (didn't take much) Ron to clobber the evil tiny scrap who used to be the Boy Who Lived.

McGonagall conjured a stretcher for Ron, who was still on the floor and groaning in pain. Harry began to wonder if he had gone too far, but forced an evil smirk on his face anyway. After all, Ron had started the fight, not him. Ok, so he had provoked the easily angered Ron, but Ron made it too easy. He had almost enjoyed kicking that obnoxious…had he enjoyed it? He shivered. Of course he hadn't enjoyed it. Ron was his friend, well, in Harry's mind Ron was still his friend. But the look Ron gave him clearly displayed Ron's thoughts on the matter.

The look he had given Harry was not one of anger, rage, or hysteria. It was far worse. It was a face of hurt, the face of a person had just had the last of his innocence stripped from him by someone he had cared greatly for. It was the face of someone betrayed by his best friend, and when there eyes met, even Harry couldn't force a scowl onto his face. One of the greatest friendships ever observed by the walls of Hogwarts had come to an end.

A/N: I'll be adding more soon. I'm currently staying at home with a severe cold and what I think is the flu, so I should have plenty of time. I hope you all wish for me to stay sick, as that will mean I have done a good job with the fic thus far. I love evil Harry! (not that he's really evil….yet) Please Review!


	11. Twelve (cont, long chapter, ain't it?)

A/N: I'm sorry. I was in a writing funk…or something. For whatever reasons, this chapter took a really long time for me to write. Well, actually, I wrote it pretty fast. Writers block really is annoying isn't it? It's like pick-up sticks. (Who's laughing?! Don't make fun of pick-up sticks! They could save your life one day, you know…but not really.) At the beginning it's easy to write, but at a certain point your easy ideas run out and it gets really hard. But once you get one idea (pick-up stick) it can make a whole bunch of others flow smoothly. Anyway, I hope I'll be getting them out a lot faster now. I'm still working on finishing this one chapter! I can't believe how long it's getting to be! Enjoy! Please read and review!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his surrounding characters belong to the wonderful JK Rowling. Salazar the snake belongs to me, but I'm not sure anyone else would want him. He doesn't give very good advice, after all.

14

Chapter 5: Twelve (cont)

By: Amadeus

Harry was sure that he would never have any friends again, and was currently trying to convince himself that this was a good thing. It wasn't working. Ron was all he could think about right now. He had betrayed his best friend, and, naturally, felt absolutely awful. What scared him was that he hadn't been able to stop himself, or, even more, that he hadn't really wanted to. He had nearly killed his best friend. The sorting hat had said that he had several Slytherin qualities within him. Perhaps, he thought, there was a bit of evil locked within him somewhere as well.

Harry's hindsight was amazing. The stupidity of his plan to alienate his friends hit him full force as he leaned back against the skeleton of the basilisk. The gloomy atmosphere of the Chamber of Secrets mirrored Harry's own feelings.

"How could I have been so stupid?!" He asked no one in particular.

Harry could almost hear Voldemort laughing at his idiocy. Even if Voldemort had been stupid enough to believe Harry's act, which Harry now knew he wasn't, he wouldn't have stopped. Voldemort was known for following up on anything he set out to do, especially when it had to do with killing people. Harry knew this all too well.

In short, Harry had turned the whole school, with the possible exception of a few Slytherins, against himself, for no reason whatsoever. He remembered the other option he had conceived to stop Voldemort's reign of terror on Harry's friends. Mad and disappointed in himself as he was, he was very glad he hadn't done anything so rash as pointlessly killing himself…although at least then he wouldn't have made an enemy of Ron.

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The entire school was full of wild whispered rumors and other talk about what had happened in the Great Hall. All anyone knew for certain was that Harry Potter had beaten up his own best friend and left the Great Hall without anyone daring to follow. And now he was missing. Some said he had already been expelled, that his wand was snapped. Some said that he had been kidnapped by Voldemort. Others said that he had joined the Dark Lord. That was by far the favored one, given his recent actions, but there was another less spoken rumor that said he had gone off to become a Dark Lord himself.

Though all these rumors existed in each of the four houses, each house, having been separated from the others, formed its own relatively collective opinion.

Several of the Slytherin girls had become very attracted to Harry all of a sudden.

"Did you seem him fight?" exclaimed Pansy Parkinson dreamily, "It was like he was in ten places at once!"

"He told that mudblood Granger off too," added Millicent Bulstrode, "That know-it-all's had it coming for a long time."

"Father will enjoy hearing about this! I wish I could see the look on Arthur Weasley's face when he finds out that his idiot son got beat up by scrappy little Potter. Father will most definitely enjoy this!" Draco Malfoy exclaimed loudly to his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle. And then added quietly, as his cronies laughed stupidly, "And so will the Dark Lord."

Ravenclaw was scandalized. Harry Potter beating up Ron Weasley! It was almost too much for their brilliant minds to comprehend. Almost. The general Ravenclaw position was that Potter had gone too far and should be expelled immediately. It was only logical.

The Hufflepuffs, being fair and loyal as they were, thought that Harry should have a chance to explain…and then be expelled. He _was_ still a Parselmouth after all. And several of them had noticed him carrying around a snake on his wrist, talking to it. Some of them even began to reconsider exactly who it was that had killed their champion, Cedric Diggory.

The Gryffindors, well, the Gryffindors just wanted to know what had happened to the Harry Potter they knew and loved, the boy who lived, the hero and savior of light, and Ron Weasley's best friend. They wanted to know where in hell, or where from hell, this evil little scrap had come from. Some began to question Harry's intentions all along. Had he just been acting for four years? Had You-Know-Who Done something to him? Or had he changed by himself, and if so, why? The thought that someone they all thought they knew, someone they had all thought of as their hero, could change into something so evil so quickly, frightened them more than anything. At this moment, they feared Harry Potter as much or more than they feared the Dark Lord himself. And thus the Gryffindors, known for their outstanding bravery, cowered in fear as the portrait hole swung open to reveal none other than Harry Potter. No one attempted to speak to him or approach him. They had all seen what happened last time anyone had tried. They simply waited in fear and dreaded anticipation as the boy who lived stepped into the common room. What would he do this time, and more importantly, to whom would he do it?

A/N:I considered leaving it there. I really did. But I've left you all hanging for so long that I couldn't bear the guilt.

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Harry had made up his mind to apologize as best he could to his friends, if they would listen. But he had made that decision hours ago. He was not quite sure what time it was (The watch Sirius gave him was in the fifth year dorm.) or how long he had been down in the Chamber of Secrets when Salazar slithered up to him, wrapping around his wrist. He was not surprised this time. He had discovered that there were other snakes at Hogwarts, and had spent his time either talking to them or deciding how he should apologize to Ron and Hermione… and the rest of Gryffindor.

Now that Harry thought about it, he should have known there were more snakes in the Chamber. They had never really been accepted at Hogwarts because of their dark associations, but that had never stopped the occasional student from smuggling them in. Harry also remembered noticing back in his second year that there were many bones of small animals scattered throughout the chamber. The creatures whose bones lay strewn about were far to small for any basilisk to bother with, especially the giant one that Harry had fought.

The climate was perfect for snakes as well, as the Chamber was designed by the great Salazar Slytherin himself to accommodate snakes in general and one snake in particular. And the warm air tended to draw their prey to them, so that in the winters they would not have to hunt for food in the chilly British air and snow.

He had met over a dozen by the time Salazar arrived, and several had stayed to chat with him. He was, after all, the first human able to speak Parseltongue at Hogwarts since Tom Riddle, and the Slytherin had ignored nearly all the smaller snakes in favor of the one very large one. This was told to him by Sam, by far the oldest of the snakes having been in the Chamber nearly one hundred years, quite more than was expected for the somewhat small snake. He mentioned on a sidenote that there had been one other that the young Voldemort had favored, but did not elaborate. Harry had discovered by the time Salazar arrived that two had been brought to Hogwarts by the Weasley twins' friend Lee Jordan, and no less than five had escaped from Hagrid, who was far to "clingy" for them. Harry had never thought of Hagrid as a snake person, but should have known better. After all, snakes met all the qualifications. Sharp fangs, hissing, and about as un"cuddly" as a creature could get. Add the fact that most of the wizard world hated them and they were sure to be a true love for Hagrid. Harry correctly imagined that the snakes, however, did not like Hagrid's so-called "cuddling".

Harry had almost forgotten about his worries as he talked with his new friends, until Salazar came anyway. As the snake curled around his wrist, the others backed away, seeming almost afraid. All but one left, quickly hissing goodbyes to Harry. Sam stayed behind for a moment, seemingly glaring at Salazar. He then joined the others in leaving, hissing quietly as he left, "Be careful young friend, ssssshe is not what sssshe ssseemsss."

Somehow Harry knew he was referring to Salazar. "She?" He asked Salazar.

If snakes had shoulders, Harry was sure Salazar would have shrugged. "I told you the boy who named me and his friends were idiotssss." He…er….she replied, "I assssumed you knew."

"Er…" Harry felt his cheeks grow hot. He was blushing. He had simply assumed the snake's gender by his...her name. If Parseltongue did have tones of voice, he had not spoke it enough to be able to distinguish between male and female. He would have a hard time from now on thinking of Salazar as female, as he couldn't possibly just change her name. Sam was right. She had definitely not been as she seemed. On a side note, Harry wondered whether Sam was short for Samantha or Samuel…

He felt reassured by his time in the Chamber of Secrets. "Marvolo" brought him back up to Myrtle's bathroom (she had just been flushed down to the lake by an unsuspecting hufflepuff first year), and he headed for the Gryffindor common rooms with great hopes for his reunion with Ron and Hermione. But as he got closer to the portrait of the fat lady, he began to question if they would accept him, and even if they did, he was sure it would never be quite the same. And what about Ginny? She had been one of the few people to try and speak with him while he was being "evil", and he had come very close to slapping her. What would _she_ say when he tried to apologize?

When he had left the Chamber a short while ago, he had been smiling, sure that he could patch things up with his friends. Now that he stood in front of the fat lady's portrait, his mouth formed a thin line full of doubt. He spoke the password to the fat lady (Harry noticed that she looked much uglier with a scowl on her face), and as he faced a common room full of Gryffindors, he frowned. They were shrinking away from him. They feared him. This was going to be much harder than he had thought.

A/N: Oh, why don't we leave it there. No? You don't want me to stop there? That would be evil, you say? Well, no one ever said I was a nice person, but if you insist…

If Harry was going to convince the whole of Gryffindor, and Hogwarts, that he had been acting and that he wasn't really evil, he was going to need a few advocates. And he knew there was no one better to have on your side than your friends. He started by looking for Ron, but his best friend must still have been in the Hospital Wing. (Harry's guilt piled on as the degree to which had injured Ron had apparently been great enough that Madam Pompfrey was taking this long to heal him) The Gryffindors seemed to know who he was looking for. And, they knew his next "target" after Ron. Hermione. He walked in her direction, the Gryffindors, despite their bravery, allowing a wide path to her. Hermione seemed too frightened to move out of his way, and let him approach her as the rest of Gryffindor backed away. Of all the Gryffindors, Ginny Weasley was standing by her and stayed standing by her as the rest of Gryffindor recoiled.

Harry came to a halt only a few feet in front of them. His throat was dry and his voice was hoarse as he looked at Hermione, who had turned her head away. "Come with me please, Hermione," and he turned to look into the eyes of Virginia Weasley, "you too, Ginny." And he grasped for each of their hands and began to lead them up to his dormitory. Hermione pulled away, but Ginny, who had seen the look in Harry's eyes, had not, and followed him without resisting. Hermione followed soon after so as not to leave Ginny alone with the monster that had become of her best friend. When they had started to ascend the stairs, Harry heard rustling behind him.

"Where are you taking Ginny?" Fred had worked up his courage.

"We won't let you take her out of our sight!" George joined in, determined.

"Very well," responded Harry, "I suppose the two of you can come along as well."

"Well, er…" George began.

"That's not exactly what we had in mind," stated George quietly, but the twins were forced to follow as Harry and Ginny had already started to climb the stairs again, with Hermione in tow. When all were in the fifth boys dorm room, Harry magically locked the door and put a soundproof spell on the room. Hermione looked almost impressed.

"I want to start out by saying I'm extremely sorry for the past couple days. It was extremely stupid, what I was doing. I just thought that, if Voldemort saw you weren't my friends any more, maybe he wouldn't bother with killing you." He noticed that Ginny was the only one of the four who did not cringe at the dark lord's name. Harry almost smiled at her. He continued explaining his plan, the hate potion, and all of his stupid decisions since then, leaving out any part involving the chamber of secrets. The last thing he needed was to remind everyone of the bond he shared with the evil dark lord.

As he continued, they slowly began to realize that he had been doing all this _for_ them rather than to them. Ginny and Hermione had tears in their eyes as he described how awful it had felt to do the things he did. Fred and George looked at him with disbelief. By the end, they all believed him.

"Could you ever forgive me?" Harry asked after a moment when he was done. There was silence. Harry began to worry. Suddenly Harry saw a light in George's eyes. He didn't care for it.

"Harry," he said as solemnly as he could, "Do you mind if we have a moment alone to discuss it?" He nodded to the door.

Harry nodded. "Sure." And he left them alone, waiting just outside, suddenly cursing his ability to perform soundproofing charms.

He waited for a while, growing more nervous by the minute. He was beginning to believe they were making him wait on purpose when George opened the door. "Harry?"

"Yes?" Harry asked anxiously.

"You can come back in now. We've made our decision."

Harry reentered the room. There was silence for a whole minute before his nervousness forced him into asking, "Well?" His anxiousness and fear showing on his face. "Am I forgiven?"

Hermione slowly walked up to him, and kicked him in the shin. Ginny slapped him in the face, Fred jabbed him in the stomach, and George punched him in the nose. Harry fell to the floor, stunned.

"Forgiven!" They chorused together. Fred and George were laughing hysterically. Hermione was trying to hold in her own laughter, but she was failing and the results were some rather unceremonious snorts. Ginny was giggling. After a few seconds, Harry joined in, having been helped up by the twins, laughing just as happily as the others, if a bit more painfully. He just hoped that being forgiven by Ron and the rest of the school didn't entail the same process. He'd be in the hospital wing for a month.

A/N: Well, that was fun wasn't it? No more evil Harry…for a little while anyway. I'm back in writing mode now, after a very long off time. What really inspired me to start writing again was when I went back and read the reviews, and saw that there were 200 of them. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, and please continue to do so! If anyone wants to read my comedy "Harry Potter Romance from A to Z" please let me know and I'll email it to you (this requires your email address, naturally). Apparently the ff.net people don't like it. I don't know why. But it had over 40 reviews both times I put it up before the administration took it off. It's really funny. Summary: This comedy was inspired by the ridiculously large number of H/? pairings throughout ff.net, and pairs poor Harry with everyone from Hermione and Ginny to Malfoy and Fluffy! Join the fun! Anyway, thanks for reading and please review! I'll get the next chapter out as soon as possible!


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